GROUNDED: Boats lined up at Nichols Marina in Staten Island yesterday, where about 100 boaters gathered to support the hurricane-hit facility.Steve White

GROUNDED: Boats lined up at Nichols Marina in Staten Island yesterday, where about 100 boaters gathered to support the hurricane-hit facility. (
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First, Sandy smashed Staten Island’s Nichols Marina. Now Uncle Sam is killing it for good with the stroke of a pen.

Nearly 350 boaters are being evicted from the popular harbor in Gateway National Park because of a bureaucratic Catch-22 — in which the government no longer acknowledges the damaged marina exists.

Because there is no marina — at least in the eyes of the feds — officials refused to renew the facility’s 37-year-old lease, which expired Dec. 31.

“We do not have the authority to lease land. And since there is currently no marina, there are no facilities to lease,” the National Park Service wrote on its Facebook page.

The move has outraged boaters. They are especially confused about the “no marina” comments since the main building at the facility is still standing and the boatyard is intact.

More than 100 furious mariners poured into the facility yesterday to show the place is still alive.

“We held up against Sandy, but this is killing us, and there’s absolutely no reason for it,” said Fred DeLise, one of the organizers of a committee fighting the shutdown.

DeLise said that, though the Park Service has extended the marina’s lease until April 15, officials have refused to discuss why the lease isn’t being renewed.

“All they say is: ‘It isn’t gong to happen. No way is it going to happen,’ ” said DeLise.

In another post, the Park Service said, flatly: “ We do not have the authority to award a non-competitive lease.”

Another post added, “We do not have the funds available to rebuild the marina. We do not have the authority to allow [private operators] to rebuild the marina as it would be a liability to the taxpayer in the investment in rebuilding.”

Committee members said Park Service officials have indicated they want a three-year, $10 million study on the merits of the maria’s existence before renewal of any leases.

Operators of the Nichols Marina have planned to spend a relatively modest $2 million of their own cash to replace floating docks and slips wrecked by Sandy.

“The infrastructure wasn’t damaged, just boats and floating docks. Everything else on land miraculously held up,” said DeLise.

Committee members claim officials of Nichols and its parent, Marinas of Tomorrow Inc., have been hit with a gag order from the Park Service.

A marina employee declined to speak with The Post.

Calls to the National Park Service weren’t returned.

Though the lease has been nixed, there is some hope for the marina’s future, since the Park Service asked for money to rebuild it in the $60 billion Sandy-aid package.